( AFP , Caracas ) Venezuelan oil minister and current OPEC chairman Ali Rodriguez said Friday that the upcoming summit of the organization in Caracas would further bolster its role. OPEC "is growing stronger, once again playing a leading role on the world scene, with an eye toward stabilizing the energy market" Rodriguez told Globovision television ahead of the meeting set for September 27-30.

Leaders of the 11 OPEC member states are expected at the event as the cartel weighs its strategy, with oil prices now firm, following the tumbling of prices since the 1970s. Rodriguez added that OPEC has plans to boost crude output from 3.5 million barrels per day to 5.8 million barrels per day over the next 10 years.

Venezuela is the only Latin American member of OPEC, which was founded in 1960 and also includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Iran, Indonesia, Libya, Nigeria, and Algeria.

President Hugo Chavez will leave Sunday on a trip to all the OPEC member states to invite their leaders personally to the event.